PCGamesN
has a follow-up to some comments from id Software's Tim Willits that refute some
of his recollections of the development of QUAKE, id's classic
first-person shooter. After speaking with the id Software design director during
QuakeCon they quoted him saying he designed the shareware version of QUAKE and
originated the idea of producing multiplayer-only maps for the game. This does
not, however, jibe with how other developers on the game recall things.
John Romero's blog
has a detailed response, noting that other games before QUAKE (ROTT in
particular) shipped with multiplayer only maps, and that the DOOM
community (including
me) produced many dedicated MP maps. He also notes that Tim designed four of
the nine maps in the shareware, and bristles at the notion that the game had "no
design direction."
Shacknews contacted John Carmack, saying the former id Technical Director
"could not recall" the meeting where Tim says he sold the multiplayer map
concept to the rest of the team. Finally, American McGee, who designed three of
the shareware maps as well as some of the multiplayer maps in question,
tweeted
about this, saying The Romero's article is "revising revisionist history,"
and calling Tim "a serial credit thief." PCGamesN says their efforts at getting
further comment from Tim or id parent Bethesda Softworks have so far been
unsuccessful.